North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue have today (Monday, 20 July 2015) launched a public and staff consultation on a number of changes to the services it provides.
The fire service say that the number of incidents they attend and the level of risk have fallen over the last ten years. That means that in some areas there is potentially an over provision of resources giving an opportunity to make changes in order to deliver a more cost effective service and better match resources to risk levels.
On the 24 June 2015 the Fire Authority approved a number of fire station specific proposals be taken forward for consultation.
The fire stations where changes are proposed are:
The Harrogate District has fire stations at Harrogate, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Masham, Summerbridge and Lofthouse.
Changes are being proposed for the Harrogate and Ripon stations only.
At Harrogate the proposal is to replace a whole-time shifted crew fire engine with a tactical response vehicle, with a smaller shifted crew.
In Ripon the proposals are to change a whole-time day crewed engine and an on-call retained crew. The proposals would see the loss of the whole-time day crewed with either a mixed crew fire engine (day crew and retained) or day crewed tactical response vehicle.
A fire engine has a crew of 4 or 5, a tactical response vehicle is a much smaller unit that is capable of tacking some small incidents, but does have less crew.
The North Yorkshire Fire Service responded to 10,420 in 2004/5 and 6,874 in 2014/15, in the Harrogate district incidents reduced from 1,395 to 1,250 in that same period.
The fire service say that analysis has concluded that of the current 46 fire engines, the local risk would be met by 27 of them being immediately (within five minutes) available and a further ten available within 15 minutes.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) are currently reviewing the proposals before they issue a response.
To read the consultation document:
Draft Have your say FCR Phase 2 doc v1
Response to the consultation can be emailed fcr@northyorksfire.gov.uk
Consultations are also taking place where members of the public can talk to the fire service.
- Monday 27th July 3pm-7pm Harrogate School Hall, Harrogate High School, Ainsty Road, Harrogate, HG1 4AP
- Thursday 30th July 3pm-7pm Tadcaster Ballroom, Riley Smith Hall, 28 Westgate, Tadcaster, LS24 9JB
- Monday 3rd August 3pm-7pm Northallerton Lower Hall Northallerton Town Hall, High Street, Northallerton, DL7 8QR
- Wednesday 5th August 3pm-7pm Scarborough Small room, Scarborough Library, Vernon Road, Scarborough, YO11 2NN
- Tuesday 1st September 3pm-7pm Malton The Milton Rooms, Market Place, Malton, YO17 7LX
- Thursday 3rd September 3pm-7pm Northallerton Upper Hall, Northallerton Town Hall, High Street, Northallerton, DL7 8QR
- Wednesday 9th September 3pm-7pm Ripon Arts Hall, Ripon Leisure Centre, Dallamires Lane, Ripon HG4 1TT
- Tuesday 15th September 3pm-7pm Harrogate Harrogate Baptist Church, Victoria Avenue, Harrogate, HG1 5RD
- Thursday 17th September 3pm-7pm Scarborough Small room, Scarborough Library, Vernon Road,Scarborough, YO11 2NN
- Tuesday 22nd September 3pm-7pm Tadcaster Tadcaster Methodist Church, High Street, Tadcaster, LS24 9AT
- Tuesday 29th September 3pm-7pm Harrogate St Peter’s Church, Cambridge Road, Harrogate, HG1 1RW
- Thursday 1st October 3pm-7pm Malton The Milton Rooms, Market Place, Malton, YO17 7LX
- Monday 5th October 3pm-7pm Scarborough Studio 4, The Street, 12 Lower Clark Street, Scarborough, YO12 7PW
- Wednesday 7th October 3pm-7pm Ripon Council Chamber, Ripon Town Hall, Market Place South, Ripon, HG4 1DD
